


Wasteland

by denial_four



Category: Bandom, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Homophobia, M/M, Soul Bond, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, violence probably
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-26
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-06-04 14:39:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6662836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/denial_four/pseuds/denial_four
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A society is created to run perfectly smooth, with no flaws, behaviours, or people to stop it.<br/>The government controls everything perfectly, down to minutes.<br/>The one thing they cannot prevent are the soulbonds.</p>
<p>In a future where soulmates are growing rarer and are frowned upon, Josh Dun is intrigued by the idea of them. He never thinks he'll actually have one. But he certainly figures it out quickly enough when him and Tyler Joseph begin to sport matching markings around the compound.</p>
<p>He never thought that he'd have a soulbond.<br/>Much less with a boy.</p>
<p>That was a death-crime.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Some people didn’t like how society was run nowadays. A lot of them didn’t, actually. But unfortunately there was always more bad to outweigh the good.

Josh, for one, did not particularly enjoy the way that everyone, including him, were forced to live. It was boring, distasteful, and there was no way to have a good adventure. Especially since the penalty was death for most crimes. Pft, the government needed to calm down.

Josh was currently getting dressed and getting ready to head out the door of his compound unit. He lived there with his mother and father. Sometimes Josh wish he’d had a sibling- like he’d read about in history books at school. But to control the population, nobody was allowed to have more than one child, and if more than one was conceived, the extras were aborted.

If someone managed to have more than one child and harbor them, it was punishable by death.

Josh pulled on a pair of blue jeans and a pale blue button-up flannel. Blue and brown were pretty much the only colours that anybody was allowed to wear. It was boring. Higher-up officials got to wear fancier colours sometimes, like purple, to show their status. But normal citizens like Josh got nothing.

Red was Josh’s favourite colour, personally. He wished he could wear something red one day.

He ran his fingers through his short, wavy hair. Straight hair was the norm here in the compound (what the residents called where they lived- its technical term was ‘Living Containment Complex’ but nobody ever wanted to say all of that). As a result, Josh was deemed a ‘genetic mutation-‘ thankfully that wasn’t a death-crime. He did get some strange looks sometimes, though, but it didn’t bother him. Josh found that the people closest to him liked it. And he thought it made him at least a little bit unique.

Josh had always been that way, wanting to be different. And he knew it. It’d been the same ever since he was a little kid. But he’d asked too many questions, and asking too many questions got you into trouble. So he stopped. He was 16 now, and much more used to what was considered ‘normal,’ here.

Waving his fingers in a short goodbye to his mom, who was sitting on their couch drinking her morning coffee, Josh snatched up an apple on his way out the metal doorway and wedged himself into the throng of traveling people.

It was Thursday, so Josh had classes, unfortunately. In history he’d learned that they’d kept the same functioning schedule- five days of school or work, with weekends off. It was one of the few things that continued to work for their society, and that the government approved of, apparently.

His first class was, in face, history. Josh thought about history a lot, as it seemed. It fascinated him. He often wished he could go back and live how everyone else used to, freer. Be able to see the nature outside of the compound that only certain citizens would ever be able to see, instead of through some porthole in the side of a climate-controlled building.

Josh pushed the thought away and took a seat at his normal desk near the middle of the room.

Having a few minutes to himself, Josh discreetly ate the apple in his hand, as quickly as possible, before tossing it into one of the nearby disposal bins. He opened the slot in his desk to get ready, making sure it was the one with his name printed on the side before pulling out his notebook and chewed-up pen. Every student had a desk slot for each of their classes, and the slots were changed in-between periods. It was part of the system.

Eventually the rest of his classmates finished filtering into the room. Josh eyed them casually and silently tapped his pen against his hand. He rhymed their names off in his head. Knowing your peers’ names was ‘vital.’ He never really talked to many of them, though. He didn’t have many friends.

The teacher took attendance. It was a brisk, rigid affair, where last names were called and answered with a curt ‘present.’

Eventually everyone finally got through. The teacher outlined the lesson plan for the day’s class, and Josh perked up slightly as he heard what it would be about. It was on the topic of soulbonding. This had always interested Josh, but he’d never asked about it because it was a touchy subject. He knew that this was the only class where he would hear about it, and that the opinions would be horribly biased towards the current system, but he didn’t really care. It was still intriguing to learn about.

The class ended up giving a short introduction on what soulbonding was. Essentially is was a strange, unexplained bond between two humans, that first appears in adolescents between the ages of 12-18. It starts at the same time for both partners. The common signs include matching marks. If one person gets a bruise, the other may have an identical bruise show up. Limitless possibilities for types of marks are out there, and it is really only a matter of time before any soulmates find eachother. Well, especially with the society that Josh lived in now, where everyone was confined together.

But, at the same time, in the newly developed system, most soulmates were frowned upon and therefore didn’t end up together. It was slowly being evolved out of the hymn race. Fewer and fewer people actually had a soulmate, now.

Josh was excited to hear more, but the only further instruction was to write a seven-paragraph essay on why soulbonding isn’t essential to society and why it is best for scientists to find a way to stop it from occurring.

Josh didn’t agree with this. He didn’t want to write this.

But he got to work anyway, jotting down what he could think of, because that was what he had to do.

Josh did nothing for the majority of the class, and eventually jut played with his pen quietly, doodling in his book, even though he’d been taught that doing so was ‘counterproductive.’

After a few minutes of glancing up at the clock, class was almost over, so Josh began to put his things away. He froze halfway through sliding his work slot back into the desk, staring down at the back of his hand in shock and confusion.

Blue lines of ink were showing up on his skin before his eyes, as if he’d drawn them. But he obviously wasn’t the one doing it. Josh’s eyes were glued to his skin, and the doodle that appeared ended up being a series of solid lines, forming shapes that appeared to mean nothing.

In the background of his blurred headspace, the teacher began to drone on about when this essay was due, but Josh wasn’t listening. The drawing stopped and he cautiously picked up his hand and examined it, rubbing at it slightly. It wouldn’t come off.

Josh left class as quickly as he could.


	2. Chapter 2

Josh had been distracted the whole rest of the day. He had pulled his sleeve down over the back of his hand so that he wouldn’t have to look at the strange marks all day, even though he couldn’t help but sneak a peek at it every so often to see if the ink stains had faded. They didn’t.

At the end of his last class (English), Josh quickly returned his slot into the desk, picked up what books he needed for his homework, and left the class. He forgot his pencil in his hand, and tapped it against his thigh without caring as he started the long journey through the metal compound back to his unit.

It was easy to get lost in here. Everything looked the same, just metal, stairs, and people, all around. The Tops (the government committee- everyone around here had a slang word for everything) had tried to differentiate sections of the huge building by colour- blue for schooling, yellow for living, green for entertainment (the smallest area), purple for medical,  and red for parliament. Anywhere else leftover was space for the rest of the professions. But, they didn’t want to keep wasting the resources to make paint for the walls, and soon enough it had all faded back to the original steel-grey.

Josh got lost more frequently than one might think. He was getting close to being an adult now, but he still had to memorize where he had to go to get back home. And more often than not, he got caught up in his thoughts, and ended up taking a wrong turn somewhere.

This was definitely not one of those days.

Josh was, freaked out, to say the least, and his only goal as he left class was to go straight home, finish his homework, and somehow wash this ink off of his hand.

So, it took him all but 25 minutes instead of the usual 40 to get home, and when he entered with his assigned keycard, nobody was home.

Josh’s mom worked in the infirmary on level six. She worked the longest hours in the family, but she seemed to enjoy it, no matter how tired she got sometimes. She was caring and passionate, and definitely gifted in the art of healing.

Josh’s father worked in the military. Josh wasn’t entirely sure, what he did, exactly... considering there were no other civilizations out there to defend this one against. Nobody even knew where the military personnel worked- it was all completely classified.

Either way, Josh had assumed that he was suited for it- stony, intelligent, and cool, though compassionate.

They were assigned their personality-matching jobs at age 18, the same age that Josh would be assigned his.

After noticing that everybody was still working, Josh let out an exaggerated sigh, combing his fingers through his wavy hair and closing his brown eyes tightly. He leaned back against the door for a moment, taking deep breaths, trying to cleanse himself of the events of the day. Eyes drifting back down his arm, Josh lifted his sleeve again and stole a look at the pen markings.

They were still there.

Sighing in frustration, Josh walked into the bathroom of his unit and stood in front of the mirror, leaning against the counter and lifting his hand a bit more underneath the light for closer examination.

The lines were nearly as bold as before, if not faded slightly. A corner of them appeared to be smudged, as if Josh had rubbed his thumb over them too hard, or tried to fix a mistake in the drawing- but it certainly wasn’t him, he’d hid his hand from himself all day.

He hesitantly opened the tap, watching the cool water start to run and pausing briefly before moving his hand underneath the stream, picking up the bar of soap and beginning to scrub his skin, trying to remove the ink.

After a solid two minutes of hand-washing, and when his hand was almost made invisible by the bubbles, Josh was positive that the pen must be gone. He rinsed his hand off and turned off the water. He started down blankly.

The marks were still there.

Never mind still there, they were in the exact same condition as before.

Josh was stunned. He didn’t know what this was. Or, he did, but didn’t want to believe it.

He walked out of the bathroom and into the living room, taking a seat on the couch and turning the TV on to watch re-runs of old cartoons, like he often did. He used it as background noise to help himself chill out, but it wasn’t exactly helping.

Josh tried to convince himself that this was just a weird occurrence, and that it’d pass, like everything. But in the back of his mind he was slowly accepting what was going on.

His mind flashed back to the day’s history lesson and the essay that he’d yet to finish.

This was a soulbond marking.

That was the only explanation that he could think of. Why else would they suddenly appear, not wash off when Josh tried to, but be seemingly affected by someone else’s activities? He was even in the right age range.

Josh took some slow breaths. This wasn’t a tragedy. If he had to deal with some marks popping up every so often, so be it. He knew that soulmates were frowned upon, but if he did end up with this girl, so what? It wasn’t a death-crime.

Either way, he wasn’t being forced to date her or anything, anyway.

Josh shrugged and got up, moving to get the books he’d discarded by the door to start his homework. He settled into his room on his white sheeted bed, and began to finish his essay, having new inspiration for it. But soon, he was interrupted yet again.

His hand started to feel cold, and Josh had the sensation of water running over his skin. He looked down, but nothing was there. But as he watched, the lines of ink slowly began to blur and smear, eventually fading out of his skin as if they’d been washed off.

Creepy.

Josh mentally decided that he had definitely been right.

He had a soul mate out there, somewhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- This was kind of a filler, but I had to put it in before I could get to the good stuff. Enjoy, hope to update soon. xo


	3. Chapter 3

The assumed soulbond ended up drifting from Josh’s mind for a few days as he got distracted with other matters. Mostly schoolwork. Midterm exams were coming up, and Josh had been losing sleep every night to study.

Josh’s schedule consisted of History, Music, Engineering, and English, all of which were rather difficult topics for him. Well, aside from Music. Music came naturally to him. And, History and English interested him, at least a little, so they were bearable. Engineering is the one thing that he genuinely hated, this semester.

Josh didn’t exactly like how some mandatory classes were for specific fields of work. Like, yeah, the government had to see what you were good at to pick your job- but it was still pretty stupid, and boring, especially if that wasn’t even what you were good at.

Either way, Josh was studying hard for his exams, and for that reason, was currently passed out in bed, covered in textbooks and essay papers at 2PM on a Saturday afternoon.

His mom had woken him up once to give him lunch- a meat sandwich. The bread was whole grain, grown in the compound. The meat inside- well, it _was_ real meat, but nobody except the farming sector really knew what animals it was made up of.

Josh had eaten his sandwich contently, listening to the soft hum of his radio in the background as he chewed. He tried to go back to studying- but just ended up lying in bed, procrastinating, and drifting in and out of repaid sleep again.

By the time Josh woke a second time, it was 4PM, almost time for the evening meal. But Josh didn’t exactly wake up so calmly this time.

Blinking his eyes open, Josh had groaned quietly to himself, and rolled onto his stomach to stretch, before becoming aware of a searing pain on his left arm. He hissed softly and looked down at his arm, sitting up quickly and frowning in confusion. Four finger-shaped bruises slowly appeared, a bit above his wrist, and flowered into a purple and yellow dusting against his skin. He certainly didn’t do that to himself. And that’s when he remembered.

The soulbond.

Josh’s blood started to boil. Whoever was hurting his soulmate (or whoever this was) was going to pay for it. Josh didn’t even know her and he was already feeling the connection tug at his brain. Then again, it could’ve just been him. Josh had always been fiercely loyal and a bit overprotective.

Josh bit the end of his tongue, chewing on it slightly as he stared at his arm and thought hard about a way to contact her. It was a long few minutes, and Josh had thought of nothing. Eventually he groaned in frustration and picked up his pen, throwing it at the wall. And that’s when he realized just how they could communicate- the pen.

Jumping up from his bed, Josh hurried to retrieve the tool before settling back against his blankets and the wall. He looked down at the pen.

She’d drawn on her hand, and he’d seen it, right? So, in theory... He could write on his arm, and she would see it too. And be able to reply.

Josh bit his lip and uncapped the pen, holding it to his arm and beginning to write. He started with the obvious.

‘Are you okay?’

He watched the ink appear and settle into the underside of his arm. It wasn’t long at all before he received a response, in messy scripted writing below his own.

‘Yeah, who’s this?’

Josh smiled slightly, glad to get a response. He licked his thumb and cleared his own ink off of his arm, before writing back a response in the now-free space.

‘I’m Josh. You?’

‘Tyler.’ Came the reply almost immediately, and Josh frowned slowly in slight confusion. Tyler was a boy’s name. Soulmates were.. supposed to be a girl and a guy. But, then again, girls were named Tyler, sometimes. He put it out of his mind and wrote back a reply.

‘We should probably meet, if you want.’ He wrote, not hesitating, because he really did want to meet her- them, whoever- was on the other end of his connection. It was a minute longer before he saw a reply scribbled back, this time.

‘Yeah.’

Josh hurriedly responded.

‘What’re your classes?’

‘Music, Math, Greenhouse, and English.’

‘You’re in my English, I’ll find you there tomorrow?’

Another pause before Tyler replied.

‘Sure. See you, Josh.’

Tyler wiped all of the ink off of his arm, and so did Josh.

Josh grinned slowly, sitting back against the wall in his bed. Finally, this mystery was finally coming to an end. He knew that soulmates were frowned upon, but not all soulmates ended up dating, or whatever. Some of them ended up being platonic- like- best friends with a closer connection. Josh could go for that.

It’s not like it was illegal, or anything, anyway.

Josh turned his attention back to his homework and idly wondered what they would be like. Would they have a similar personality to his? Or be the opposite? Would they like music, and the other things, that he did? Or be someone else, someone with a completely different range of interests?

Josh blew out a slow breath and ran a hand through his hair. He pushed his homework off of his lap and stood up as his mother called him out for dinner.

He was going to meet them tomorrow, that’s all that mattered, right now.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day Josh had actually stressed about his appearance.

Of course, there wasn’t much he could do about his clothes- they weren’t allowed to wear anything other than the pale, boring, pattern-less garments that were provided. But he had spent a good long time getting his wild curly hair just right, and even took his bathroom’s scissors to it at one point- it was worth it, in the end. But he spent so long that he missed his opportunity to eat breakfast.

As a result, the entire rest of the morning, Josh’s stomach was growling. He was not offered a snack by anyone, because when you were over 15, you were expected to plan your meals accordingly, and that was that. Instead he just got annoyed, and sometimes sympathetic glances from the other students sitting around him.

Because of all of this, Josh’s morning went by incredibly slowly, and nothing that he did could possibly make his classes go by any faster.

When it was finally lunch, he almost ran to the cafeteria to get food, and was met with the unfortunate fate of spilling hot soup all over his shirt. Which led to him having to run back home, change, and hurry off to his third class- he was still hungry by the end, he hadn’t even finished his meal.

Josh managed to steal an apple off of his third period teacher, who felt for him, and that fixed the majority of his bad luck, in the end.

Unfortunately, he had more problems during the second half of the day, which consisted of his growing anxiety and excitement in meeting Tyler.

The minutes ticked by agonizingly slowly during third class, slower than even usual, which was surprising even though Josh knew why.

Eventually (thankfully) his third class did end. Josh let out a sigh of relief. He wanted to try and find Tyler in his last class before they met, try and figure out what she looked like. Besides, it’s not as if he’d even gotten any work done all day, anyways.

Dropping his things into his desk slot, too hurriedly, Josh fumbled to shove it back into his desk and tripped over his chair on the way out of the classroom. Once outside he was caught in the throng of people again, and could breathe.

It might seem strange to other people, but Josh felt more at ease when surrounded by people, rather when they were spread out. When everyone was together like this, just trying to move on with their day, nobody was really paying attention to anyone else. Your differences were forgotten, you were all just journeying humans. And Josh appreciated the feeling. He no longer was criticized for his curly hair, or his disapproval of the system. He was just… moving.

When he finally reached his English class, Josh was among the last to arrive. He made his way to his assigned seat, trying not to attract attention, but he couldn’t help but sneak glances around the rows of sitting students anyway. Where was Tyler? What did she even look like? Josh sat down and debated contacting her, pulling out his desk slot and pen.

He settled back into his chair and blew out a few slow breaths, trying to make himself relax. Josh wasn’t entirely sure why he was so nervous. They were soulmates after all, they were made to like eachother, so of course Tyler would like him.

Josh didn’t listen to the lecture, like, at all. Instead he let his eyes wander around the classroom, and stared at the backs of what people’s heads he could see, trying to figure out who Tyler was. He thought maybe he’d just know when he saw her, but he didn’t.

Slightly disappointed by this fact, Josh managed to wait for about half of the class before writing to Tyler, on the back of his hand. The first message was a carefully scrawled one that read, ‘What do you look like?’

Josh felt the ink sink into his hand before letters started to form below his. The letters were written in the clumsy font that he knew as Tyler’s- cluttered, but Josh thought it was kind of cute.

‘Black hair, I’m wearing a white shirt.’

Josh glanced around and squinted. About four people in front of him were wearing white blouses, and two of them had black hair. He wiped the pen off of his hand and narrowed his question.

‘What row are you in?’

After a minute, Tyler wiped their own hand as well and replied.

‘Second. Third from the front.’

Josh looked up again and let his eyes count the rows. One, two. Then the seats. One, two. There they were, black hair, white blouse, Tyler was there. But they had short hair, and as they looked up Josh studied the curves in their neck and shoulders, Tyler didn’t look like a girl-

“Mr. Dun. If you’re going to be in my class you have to pay attention.”

Josh jumped slightly at the sound of his name and looked up to see his teacher watching him sternly. He nodded hurriedly, stumbling over his words from embarrassment, not prepared to answer him as he’d been so suddenly snapped from his thoughts. “Yes sir, sorry sir.”

Josh took a breath as the teacher nodded and continued to speak, turning back to the projected screen. He slowly let his eyes drift back to Tyler, pushing negative thoughts out of his mind for now, and wrote back to him. He wrote quickly, glancing up at the teacher so as not to get caught again.

‘Meet me at the bathroom down the hall?’

Josh knew that nobody would go to the bathroom right after class. Everyone would go to meet their friends somewhere a bit more rebellious, or go home. After a moment Tyler replied,

‘Okay.’

Josh sighed in relief.

When the class ended, Josh returned his desk slot and left class more carefully this time, filing outside after the other students and taking a right turn. He looked around to see if he could find Tyler again, but couldn’t. That was alright, he’d be there soon enough.

When he reached the bathroom, Josh went inside, and as he suspected, nobody was there. He ran his fingers through his curls once, glancing in the mirror, before he leaned back against the sink counter and waited.

After a few minutes of long, dragged-out minutes, the door finally opened, and Josh looked up. Slowly walking in through the door was a boy, about Josh’s height, if not a tad taller, with black hair and deep brown eyes. His movements were a bit timid, and as he stepped into the bathroom fully, he stopped a few feet in front of Josh. He didn’t say anything.

“Tyler..?” Josh asked, eventually, breaking the silence. Tyler nodded slowly and scratched at the back of his neck.

“Yeah… hi, Josh.” Josh nodded slowly, he didn’t know what to say. He took in Tyler’s face. He had a nice face. His hair suited him. He was a pretty person.

Then it finally hit him.

Tyler was a boy.

Josh’s mind screamed at him to stop, to get out of there, to never talk to Tyler again. But he didn’t budge. This was illegal. Same sex soulmates were illegal. Illegality equalled a death crime. They could both be killed because of this.

Josh swallowed nervously and tried to calm himself down, clinging to the hope of a platonic bond.

“Right, well-“ Josh stepped forward from the counter and held out his hand. “I’m Joshua Dun, but call me Josh, obviously. Nice to meet you.” He said awkwardly, offering a small smile as Tyler shook his hand with soft fingers.

“Tyler Joseph.” He replied. “And it’s nice to meet you too.”

Josh nodded and let go of his hand, pushing his own into his pants pocket and shuffling his feet a bit. “You want to walk- around, a bit? Get to know each other, or whatever? I mean, this is kind of weird, right-“ He laughed quietly, awkwardly, and glanced up at Tyler after he replied.

“Sure, why not?”

Josh just caught the end of a smile Tyler had given, the slight happy shining of his eyes, the way his lips curled up on one side more than the other.

All thoughts of a platonic bond basically ran out of Josh’s mind, and his mouth went a bit dry.

Fuck.

 _Shit_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been really busy, but I'll try to update more often.


	5. Chapter 5

Walking with Tyler was really nice. They did small talk for a few minutes at first, but then started to talk about things that they liked, things they enjoyed, what classes they were taking. Deeper facts about themselves.

They bonded over their love for music. Not much music was allowed in the compound, but they did have music classes, they dissected old songs that would play on the radios, they got to listen. They’d sing along sometimes, or drum to the beat on their desks. Tyler and Josh both loved music. They agreed that there should be more of it.

Tyler’s favourite colour was blue. Josh’s favourite colour was red. They agreed that their colours were complimentary and discussed how they wished they could wear them.

Every so often a content patch of silence would fall and the two would continue doing laps around the building, enjoying each other’s company. Josh thought about how much he and Tyler were alike. It was strange, but good. Well, it was to be expected, since apparently, they were soulmates.

Soulmates.

Josh blew out a breath slowly to calm himself. This was so much, all at once. He never thought he’d have a soulmate, and he was glad to have one, because everyone with one, was always so much happier. But still… Tyler was a boy. This was illegal. And looking at him, though he’d never thought about being with a boy before, Josh honestly thought that Tyler was beautiful. And he knew that he wanted to be with him. And it was the scariest thing he’d ever thought about.

Josh didn’t bring it up, it was freaky enough just to think about, nevermind to discuss with Tyler. Maybe at some point, but certainly not now.

“Where do you wanna go now?” He asked Tyler instead, after a moment to collect himself. He glanced over in time to see Tyler shrug and pause. They’d been walking in circles for about 30 minutes, it might be about time to actually go somewhere.

“I dunno. I mean… I’d say we could go to my unit, but my parents aren’t that nice.” Josh nodded and shrugged, not pressing the issue, and replied again, grateful for the idea.

“Well- we can go to mine, if you want. My parents are probably still working anyway, we can just hang out or whatever.”

Tyler looked up at him and nodded, offering a small smile. “Yeah, sure, sounds good to me.”

Josh’s mind clouded with happiness and he smiled, nodding. “It’s on level three.” He explained, before starting the climb up the stairs ahead of them. Tyler nodded and glanced around, letting the silence come back for a moment before speaking again.

“What’s your family like?” He asked softly, and Josh didn’t look over, but he instead shrugged slightly.

“Mom’s a doctor, dad’s in the military.” He replied as if he’d rehearsed it, as they approached another set of stairs.

Tyler paused before replying. “No, I mean- what are they _like_?” Josh paused and shrugged, looking over at Tyler for a moment. What a peculiar question. He’d never gotten that question before. Everyone always seemed… the same. But… then again, maybe, they weren’t.

Josh had to think for a moment. His parents were always working. They didn’t spend much time together. He didn’t know what they were like.

Sad but true.

“Well… My mom is super sweet. She loves to take care of people, she always takes care of me when I’m sick or anything. She’s made for her job.” He smiled slightly before continuing. “My dad.. he isn’t really around much. I don’t know much about him. He’s kind of… cold.” He finished, deciding that cold was, indeed, the right word to describe his father.

Tyler paused, taking in his words, and nodded before replying. “My dad is a doctor too. Super nice, good with people. I wonder if he’s friends with your mom.” Josh nodded as they reached his unit, and he pressed his fingerprint to the door so it would open.

“Yeah, that’d be cool. I should ask her.”

Tyler seemed to nod silently beside him, and he shuffled inside the unit after Josh, slowly looking around, despite the fact that all the units were the same.

Josh smiled a bit and slid his shoes off, looking back at Tyler as the door closed.

“So… yeah. Here’s my unit.” He announced lamely, for lack of anything else to say. He felt his cheeks heat up slightly.

Tyler nodded slowly, taking a few steps further into the room- then he shrugged, and turned around, flopping into one side of the loveseat, just to the space left of the door. Josh laughed and followed suit, taking up the leftover space on it. It was grey, steely, and cool- but it had some padding, and Josh was grateful for it, sometimes.

Tyler had stretched his legs out, and Josh had crossed one over the other. Tyler looked over at Josh and smiled before taking a short breath, as if preparing himself, and speaking.

“So, ah-“ He ran one hand through his short brown hair and swallowed with a slight frown. “This.. weird, connection that we have. Is it like… Do you know what it is?” He sounded a bit hesitant, experimental, as if he just wanted a confirmation.

Josh chewed on his bottom lip slowly for a moment. He didn’t know how to reply. This was… still, a lot. But he was asking, and it definitely was his business as well- Josh had to tell Tyler what he thought, he deserved to know.

“Well… Okay, this sounds weird, but I think it’s one of those- soulmate- connections.”

Tyler paused and nodded, speaking a bit softer than before. He looked up and locked his eyes onto Josh’s face to answer.

“Yeah, um… That’s what I thought, too.”

There was a moment of quiet between the two before Josh ran both of his hands though his curly hair and cleared his throat.

“What do we… Do, about it? I mean… it’s…” He trailed off slowly, searching for what words he was looking for. Josh was terrified to offend Tyler. Some part of him desperately wanted him to stay in his life, and for that reason, when his sentence finally finished, it was Tyler who said it, after all.

“Illegal.” He ended it flatly, and drew in a breath as Josh nodded silently. He continued.

“Well… The way I see it, we have three options.” Tyler straightened and spoke as if he was a very well informed scholar of some sort, which caught a startled Josh’s attention, leading him to focus back on Tyler’s face, intrigued.

“One, I leave right now, we agree to never talk again and we deal with the bond for the rest of our lives without giving in.” Josh didn’t really give a reaction to this, and Tyler didn’t seem all that keen on it either, so he kept speaking.

“Two, we stick together, but make sure that we never do anything as more than friends.” Josh nodded slowly in the pause. Okay, so Tyler wasn’t opposed to anything. He was rational. This was good. This was what a confused, nervous (terrified) Josh Dun needed right now.

“Or three, we just.. go with it, and hope for the best.”

Tyler swallowed as he finished, watching Josh evenly and waiting for him to reply. In all honesty, Josh again, didn’t know how to reply. The way Tyler had spewed out all of that information had both caught him off guard and anchored his thoughts- in a good way, no matter what, but still. He had to take a good minute to think, running his fingers over the fabric of his pants. Luckily for him, Tyler was perfectly and entirely patient. When he finally spoke, Josh was slow, careful, and deliberate.

“Well, I think that…” He looked up at Tyler, “I don’t want to avoid you.” Tyler nodded, seemingly in agreement, so Josh went on. “And I think… we should try to be friends, but… if something else happens, then- it happens.” He finished, glancing down at his hands and then looking back up.

Tyler nodded, pausing to consider before the corners of his mouth curved up a bit and he smiled slowly, nodding. His eyes took in Josh’s face as he responded.

“Well, Mr. Dun, I think you have a very valid point, and I would like to move forward with your plan.” His eyes shone slightly as if he was making fun of his own way of speaking just moments before. In any case, Josh laughed softly before replying, which made Tyler smile just a bit more. You’d see it if you were paying attention. Josh was.

“Well, Mr. Joseph, I believe we have come to an agreement.” He grinned back. Tyler snorted and they high-fived.

Josh was happy, and Tyler was happy.

This was a serious topic of discussion, but they had come to a reasonable conclusion and were hopefully moving forward in the best way possible. That’s how Josh thought of it, anyway. They could die for doing this, but what choice did they have? They were joined by the hip, in a sense, they were connected in a way that they would never be able to get away from, no matter what they did.

And despite all of this, the dangerous consequences that could arise, Josh and Tyler were grinning, laughing, and excitedly continued to chat about better things. They made each other better, and now, even though they’d only known each other a short time, Josh could feel the soulbond strengthening, and though it scared him, he couldn’t imagine being without Tyler altogether.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so I haven't been updating that often because I'm super busy, but I'm trying to do my best and I hope the chapters are coming along well/cute enough, and not as filler-y as they feel to me. Idk, let me know, thanks!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, exam times and trips are coming up, I'm super busy, but doing my best !!

The next few weeks passed by fluidly and easily. Josh and Tyler were practically inseparable, and they spent all of their free time together. They walked around the compound, they helped each other study. Other people were starting to notice, too, but it seemed to give off positive vibes- Josh’s family, for one, were pleased.

Josh’s mum had happily noticed, when she was around, that Josh had made a good friend. She liked Tyler. He was polite, well-mannered, a good student, and he made Josh happy. Josh had never had so many friends, not as a kid, not now. He was always rather shy, kept to himself, and any relationships he had with other kids were forced on him by his parents or tutors. Josh’s mom was glad he had someone now. Someone that he’d chosen himself, someone good.

Tyler was friends with his mom now, too. Josh would bring Tyler home to study and they’d lean against the counter and chit chat. It made Josh want to laugh a little, but it also made him completely and indescribably happy, so he said nothing, but he smiled, and he was pretty sure Tyler had caught him watching them once or twice.

Nobody had assumed that the two were anything more than friends, which was fortunate. Even the slightest suspicion could’ve gotten the two in trouble, separated, or worse. They’d had good luck so far.

Any free time they had together was spent talking. They talked for hours. About everything in their little world, anything they could reach with words. They went over how they’d grown up, what anxieties they had in the future, what job they hoped to get when they reached the proper age. Tyler found out that Josh was different than most, more tactile, more drawn to abnormalities. He found out about the underlying fear that motivated most, if not all of his actions. And Josh found out that Tyler’s father was the one who’d given him the bruises on that first day.

What they couldn’t speak of, they showed in actions. Their soulbond was constantly strengthened by slow movements and gentle touches, the silent seconds when they laid in a tiny bed, shoulders pressed together, and they could hear eachother’s hearts beating at the same time. It was a quiet way of speaking. One only they understood.

Of course, they couldn’t have this when they weren’t alone. But they found the time as best they could. Josh and Tyler ate lunch together every day between classes, without others around, nonetheless, but they had eachother.

Now, after the first while, they were discovering ways to keep in touch. Josh, at least, had. Not so much a way of communicating as a way of feeling when Tyler was around. As in, he could tell the exact moment that he would walk into a room, or when he was on his way towards Josh. He’d told Tyler this, and he had the same thing. And sometimes, he would get flashes of feelings that weren’t his- but he knew who’s they were. This, he hadn’t yet shared with Tyler.

The easiest way, though, that they could both equally use, was the fact that they felt eachother’s touches. They usually communicated by drawing on their hands and arms to one another, and while Josh didn’t have much else to sketch but words, Tyler was often doodling on his hands, which in turn left patterns on Josh’s skin, along with bringing a smile to his face.

Now Josh and Tyler’s classes had just finished quarterly testing, and so the boys had a bit of a break from studies while they waited for their results. Of course, they still had to attend tutoring, but they just didn’t have to focus quite as hard.

Which is why, now, in the middle of classes, Josh was writing notes on his arm to Tyler, who was in the third room over.

The curly-haired boy was struggling to contain his excitement, as he pretended to write out some notes that’d been put up on the board ahead of the class. He watched the blank ink sink into his skin, disappear, and then reappear on repeat, filled with affectionate and joking words.

“My science teacher has such a square head, I think he might’ve tried to eat a book.” Came Tyler’s words. Josh snorted quietly and glanced around to see if anyone had noticed- they hadn’t- before jotting out an answer to him.

“Yeah my teacher’s beard looks a bit like a bit like a rat or something.”

Josh could almost feel Tyler’s contained laughter radiating through his ribs, and he felt his face fill with warmth at the feeling.

“What’s your teacher even doing with a square head? Isn’t it hard to teach like that?”

“Well, looks like he might have fallen asleep in his chair. Hard to tell. His eyes are so squished, they always look closed. How’s rat-face doing?”

“Well, Tyler, he’s-“

Josh finished half of his response, paused to look up for what his teacher was doing, and was startled out of his content daze by the fact that the professor was, quite obviously, making his way down the aisle of desks towards him. Josh hurriedly tried to pull his sleeve down over his hand and then ducked his head to continue taking notes.

“Dun. What’re you doing?”

Josh’s ears were met with the unmistakable sound of his teacher standing over him, and he swallowed before looking up.

“Err- taking the notes down, sir-“ He defended, forcing himself to meet the prof’s eyes, nervously. He shifted his fingers against the cool surface of the table, feeling the man’s gaze search his face and then move elsewhere. 

“Fine. Be quicker.” He said curtly. Josh nodded hurriedly in response, letting out a quiet, relieved breath, happy he hadn’t gotten in trouble, because punishments were far from relaxed, here, especially at his age. The teacher watched him for another few moments, lingering, nodded, and then turned and moved away without another word.

Josh just hoped he’d moved away before he could see Tyler’s inked out reply show up on his hand.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, sorry this took so long. so this chapter is short because i was going to write one long ass one but then split it into two. so the tea is, another update will hopefully be along shortly! enjoy. x

The following Saturday, Tyler and Josh got together, at Tyler’s place, for once. His parents had some extra work meetings, or something of the like that day- in any case, they knew they’d be left alone.

Sitting on the couch, they were watching old shows, as usual, Tyler pressed up against Josh’s shoulder, Josh’s temple nestled against Tyler’s hair. Tyler was giggling quietly at something that happened in the show, and Josh laughed too. Josh was happy around Tyler, and though he hadn’t been fine his entire life, he figured that he was now.

“Stop laughing at me.” Tyler mumbled playfully, glaring up at Josh, making him laugh harder. Josh looked down at Tyler and rolled his eyes.

“I’m laughing _with_ you, c’mon.” Tyler huffed and sat himself up a bit more.

“Finnne, I’ll believe youuu-“ Josh laughed quietly and kissed the top of Tyler’s head, making the other boy smile brightly at him, bringing a curve to Josh’s lips, in turn.

Watching each other, their connection was strong. They’d both felt this before, being so close. It was nice, it was enjoyable, they _liked_ being close, they weren’t only brought together by the force of the bond.

And now, seeing Tyler, seeing him happy, Josh wanted him. More than the world, more than anything, Josh just wanted Tyler. And Tyler- well, Tyler wanted Josh.

Their first kiss was slow and gentle, and while Josh started it, Tyler more than happily went along. It just felt right. Careful, but deliberate, sweet, and perfect. When they pulled away, Josh offered a smile, and Tyler just cuddled back against his side, a blush painting his face.

Eventually the two fell asleep on the couch, but were soon awoken by a knock on the door and a loud, clear voice, stating the visitor: “Authorities.”

Josh blinked his eyes open confusedly, and looked to Tyler, who had already hauled himself to his feet, and, with a concerned look on his face, was walking to answer the door. Both of them knew that if they didn’t answer, they’d be in serious trouble, so, Tyler might as well do it, he lived here.

Josh squinted to see the door, but couldn’t quite see past Tyler, who was blocking the large figure in the doorway. He wanted to know what they were saying, but didn’t dare get up. So he listened as best he could.

“You live here? What’s your name?” Came the foreign voice, deep and stony.

“Yes, sir. Tyler Joseph, sir.” Tyler answered, feigning calm, but Josh could feel him starting to panic.

“Ah, Tyler. Okay. We just wanted to ask you a few questions quick, alright? We heard you’re friends with a boy named Joshua Dun.” Josh could hear Tyler pause at this, could tell he was frowning. He felt faint chills run down his own spine as he heard the officer say his name. Why was he here?

“Josh? Yeah, we’re friends. What about him?”

And apparently this, was not what the police (Josh had just assumed at this point, from his questioning demeanor) had wanted to hear. He laughed shortly, humourlessly, before replying.

“Ah, well, Tyler, a rumour is going around that you two might be acting as more than friends.”

Josh and Tyler were connected by shock, equal shock, for a fleeting moment, and Tyler struggled to find words, but the officer continued.

“We can’t have that.”

Tyler didn’t know how to answer, so he just nodded and murmured, “Of course, sir.”

“Can I take a look around?” The officer gestured to the apartment behind Tyler before pushing his way in without a valid response.

Tyler flattened against the wall to let him by, and Josh could see extra officers waiting outside of the door. Josh caught sight of the officer for the first time. He looked cold, emotionless- angry, even. He was a big guy. And he was wearing purple. He was one of the Tops. Okay, this was bad.

The Top glanced around the apartment, slowly walking in, and shrugged, but then caught sight of Josh. He narrowed his eyes. “Who’s this?” He asked, tilting his head.

Josh paused. His words caught in his throat. He had the urge to lie, but knew they’d find out. And if they were running a case on him, this officer probably knew who he was, anyways.

“Joshua. Josh Dun, sir.” He answered, words coming out choked and a bit thin. He could feel Tyler’s gaze hitting him with concern from the doorway, but was glad he didn’t move or say anything. And right now, Josh couldn’t look away from the man in Ty’s space.

“Ah, so _you’re_ Joshua.” The man replied, an accusing tone in his voice. “And why, may I ask, are you in Tyler Joseph’s living quarters instead of your own?” He asked Josh, eyes burning into his skull. Josh was just forming words at this point. Normally, he’d be too panicked to respond, but Tyler was egging him on from the corner, and Josh’s mind wanted to save itself.

“We’re friends, sir. We were visiting.” Josh answered, semi-honestly. Well? They were… friends. They were visiting.

The man nodded and shrugged, seeming to accept this.

“Oh, alright. Well then, boys, it is just a rumour, after all. I think we’re fine here. Just try not to start any more of them, okay?” He offered a slight, professional smile, before exiting, leaving Tyler breathing heavily against the wall, and Josh, open-mouthed, still sitting on the couch.

“What the fuck.” Josh stated, breathing in cool air as if he’d never get enough of it again.

Tyler looked over at him and shrugged, confused, before walking over and sighing.

“You should go home, Josh, jeez-“ Josh nodded and stood, still wide-eyed. Tyler grabbed his hand.

“Hey, we’ll be fine. They left, didn’t they? We just have to be careful, and we are.” He reassured. Josh watched him and nodded, squeezing his hand in reciprocal reassurance. They’d be fine. Tyler was right. His tone of voice calmed the shorter boy down, and Josh breathed out.

“Okay.”

Tyler nodded and let him go, watching him open the door and leave him, sighing slightly in the silent space of his living quarters, and sinking down onto the couch.


	8. Chapter 8

When Josh got back to his unit, he was rattled, exhausted, and mildly terrified, so he decided that his best bet at this point would be to tell his mom that he was feeling a bit under the weather, and to make his way to bed.

After brushing his teeth and combing his fingers through his wave-swept hair, Josh peered at himself in the mirror and thought for a few minutes. Who would’ve reported them? Who would’ve even known? It’s not like friends got suspected of being soulmates every day. Someone would’ve had to take the initiative to tell a law enforcement officer that Tyler and Josh were too close. And it wasn’t like Tyler or Josh had told anybody about their soulbond, either.

Josh knew that something had happened, but no matter how hard he thought about it, he just couldn’t come up with what it was. And eventually, he decided that he was getting nowhere, and he decided to just sleep it off- nothing bad had _really_ happened, after all.

Crawling into bed and relaxing into the sheets was probably Josh’s favourite part of the day. It was quiet, it was peaceful, and he fell asleep almost instantly.

The night was normal, silent, and Josh’s sleep almost saw him through until morning.

Almost.

Josh was woken up by a burning feeling on his wrist, and he hissed slightly, sitting up and trying to swipe the sleep from his eyes. Scrambling for the light on his bedside table, he blinded himself with it for a brief moment before his vision finally cleared and he could see what was going on.

Josh’s wrist was flaming red, in some spots it was a damaged pink, and there was a ring of purple bruises around in the center of all the damage. As he watched, yellow flowered across his bones, and it kept burning, and he kept gritting his teeth.

He obviously wasn’t doing this to himself. And his body obviously wasn’t doing it. So what was it? Tyler.

Josh growled slightly under his breath, feeling a wave of protectiveness spread over him, even though he couldn’t do anything about it, not now. He couldn’t leave his unit at night. Physically couldn’t, the door was locked. And even if he could leave, he didn’t know where to go, he didn’t know who was doing this to Tyler. It could’ve been his dad again- or it could be someone else. But Josh didn’t know.

And the more he thought about it, the more scared he got.

Usually Tyler’s dad was a few fingerprints, a ringing ear, maybe. And certainly not in the middle of the night. But Josh didn’t know who else would want to hurt Tyler, and so far, Tyler hadn’t told him of anyone else, either.

He had a fleeting flash of hope, realization, at how he could figure out what was happening- his hand flashed out and he grabbed a pen, uncapped it, and held it to his skin- but he froze. If someone was hurting Tyler- writing to him right now probably wasn’t a good idea.

Josh sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, pushing his panic away, sighing, tugging at the strands and hoping it’d end soon.

He didn’t know what to do.

He stayed up the rest of the night.

 

\---

 

Tyler didn’t know why this was happening to him. Why had the police gotten to his unit in the middle of the night? Why had they handcuffed him and dragged him along behind them in the halls of the military section, ignoring his parents’ shocked protests and his pleas for an explanation?

Well, he learned quickly enough.

He learned why, when they sat him down in a chair, and questioned him, the same things, over and over again, while he watched them with panicked eyes.

They hadn’t believed him, earlier.

They still thought he was soulbonded with Josh.

And they wanted to crack him, they wanted him to admit it, too. Tyler knew that he couldn’t do that. Tyler knew, that now, at this point, it was a life or death situation. And anything he said would be held against him. So he shook his head, and didn’t say anything.

Or, he tried not to, but it got harder, after a while. The stress started to get to him. The sleep deprivation started to get to him, he was essentially running on adrenaline. And he panicked. He was seated in a chair, but one officer moved just too fast, and Tyler smashed his hand into his face, sending him reeling back. And he didn’t mean to do it, he was just startled, and as a result he stared at the carnage, horrified. What would they do to him now?

“No, no I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, he just scared me I-“

The officer hissed. It had been the one questioning him. He was wearing purple, Tyler realized. Not good. When he looked up Tyler could see that his nose was bleeding, was starting to bruise. He’d fucking injured one of The Tops. Now he was in shit for real.

None of the other officers moved to stop the purple one as he moved towards Tyler, snatched up his wrist, and snapped it.

Tyler screamed, his eyes went white for a split second, and his whole arm felt white-hot, and it _hurt_.  Tyler had never been that _hurt_ in his life, and he started to cry.

The officer seemed to know it was his fault, and he didn’t put any orders against Tyler, not then. He leaned over him and watched his face intently before murmuring.

“It’s late. We’re putting you in the infirmary. They’ll get you back to your unit. You’re not going to tell anybody about what happened here. But we’re not finished just yet.”

He leaned back and Tyler watched him, wide-eyed, cradling his arm close to his chest. He didn’t know what to do, to reply to that. He could barely think, or breathe, nevermind answer. He just nodded, near imperceptibly, and didn’t try to resist when another man hauled him back out of the chair.


	9. Chapter 9

Josh woke up with a gasp, sweating, disoriented, and exhausted, as if he hadn’t slept at all- he hadn’t really, because of Tyler, and he’d only slept for about forty minutes or so after dawn broke. He mentally cursed Ty for keeping him up all night. Josh loved him too much.

  
But when Josh thought of his name, he broke out of the grogginess of sleep, and he remembered. Oh, God. _Tyler_.

  
Josh threw off his covers and looked down at his wrist. It didn’t hurt as violently as it had the night before, not as sharply. The pain faded into his consciousness as more of a dull ache than a stabbing pain, and as Josh’s eyes adjusted, he caught sight of it- still marked a deep purple – blue with stripes of yellow.

  
The boy felt rage churn in his stomach again and he growled under his breath as he got dressed as hastily as he could. He was impartial to the fact that someone had hurt Tyler. Severely. He was so _angry_ , he didn’t think, at this point, that he’d be able to make it through the day without causing a scene. The only thing that would be able to calm him down? Well, that would be to see Tyler, and Josh didn’t know if that could happen. But he had to try.

  
So he brushed his teeth and headed out of his empty unit. His parents were at work. And he didn’t know exactly where he was going. But he had to look somewhere. He _had_ to try.  
Had to.

  
Josh wandered the open floor of the compound for an hour. There was only one on Saturdays- unless you were working, injured, ill, or being convicted, there was no reason to visit any other floor of the place. So this was all Josh had.

  
He checked the public bathrooms. He checked the food stores. He checked the artificial gardens, and he checked the steps where teenagers often sat and talked- he ran into a lot of people he knew, but he didn’t find Tyler. And with every step, his panic grew.

  
Josh hadn’t checked Tyler’s unit. And that was his last hope. He knew that Ty’s parents, his dad at least, wasn’t very nice. But Josh didn’t care. Josh didn’t care at all. He just needed to know that Tyler was okay. Home or not. He _had_ to.

  
When he reached Ty’s unit, he felt an overwhelming sense of dread in relation to the events that had unrolled the day before, and knew that he shouldn’t be there. But at this point, Josh could barely breathe, and he didn’t know what else to do, or where to go. So he cleared his face the best he could, steadied his breathing, cleared his throat, and knocked.

  
The parents that answered weren’t at all like what Josh imagined. And while Tyler’s mother seemed nice, and both her and his father (who came up behind her a few moments after Josh started to speak) were calm for the first few moments- as soon as Tyler’s name was mentioned, they seemed to drain. And they hurriedly said something about him studying extra for classes, and not to try and find him again, because he was very busy- before closing the door in Josh’s face.

  
Josh knew, that they knew where he was. Tyler. Or at least, that they knew something he didn’t. But he couldn’t as them about it, could he?

  
Josh didn’t know where Tyler was.

  
And the sense of panic hidden in his gut had resurfaced, triggered his anxiety, flowered into a forest fire of feeling that was surpassing worry. And it was consuming every other emotion Josh could be feeling.  
Josh went home, and Josh sat still, and Josh worried, and Josh watched the clock tick on.

 

* * *

 

 

When Tyler woke up on another floor, he woke up screaming at the top of his lungs. His brain was foggy from the drugs they’d given him at the hospital. And he thought that his whole night was a nightmare, but he was so, so wrong.

  
The nurses had to detain the boy, and while he came to his senses quickly, they handcuffed his uninjured wrist to the bed. They told him that they were going to take him home. That they were going to send him home with pain medication, and that his orders were to not talk about what had happened to him. He just nodded. Tyler was numb.

  
They transported him to his unit in the hidden elevator, used just for employees and emergencies. They wanted to keep him as hidden as possible. Tyler thought that this was good. He didn’t want to be seen, anymore, anyway.

  
Tyler mostly felt violated. He wasn’t sure where to go now. Well, not now- he was being wheeled in a bed. But, in the future. He didn’t feel safe. He knew he wouldn’t feel safe at home, at school, not anywhere. The only place he felt safe was when he was with Josh. Was that going to be taken away soon, too?

  
He looked down at the white, shiny cast enclosing his broken wrist. He couldn’t feel the ends of two of his fingers. It didn’t hurt. It felt like nothing was there, anymore. And God, if there was anything Tyler hated more in that moment, it was that cast. The perfectly white, hard, man-made material that was caging his wrist. It was unnatural. And Tyler wanted it _gone_. But knew that he couldn’t have it gone.

  
The guards with him, left him in his unit with his parents. They didn’t ask Tyler any questions. He was instructed again not to tell anybody about what had happened. And Tyler didn’t plan to. Not anybody- besides Josh, anyways. Ty didn’t have anyone else he thought he could talk to, really. But he needed to talk to Josh, no matter what they told him. He _had_ to talk to Josh. Tyler was scared, scared _out of his mind_ , but he couldn’t ignore Josh. He couldn’t stay away. They were too close now, and that’s all that Tyler knew. _He had to talk to Josh_.

  
So Tyler went straight to his room and pulled out a pen.

 

* * *

 

 

When the writing started to scrawl up on Josh’s skin, he propped himself up against the wall in a frenzy, near beside himself with worry at this stage. He took gasping breaths and smiled widely as he realized that this was him. This was _Tyler_ , and he was okay.

  
But when Josh started to read the writing, his eyebrows pulled down into a frown, because this wasn’t normal Tyler. This wasn’t Tyler who’d fallen down the stairs, hurt himself, and was now laughing about it. Normal Ty joked, Josh could always feel Tyler laughing in his ribs as he wrote with his curly, sweeping writing.

  
This Tyler was different.

  
His words were rushed, his letters squished and jagged. Tyler had started writing at his elbow instead of just on his wrist or the back of his hand. He was writing _too much_.

  
Josh could barely process what Tyler was saying, as fast as he was writing it. But when he did, Josh was angry. Josh was angry, and Josh was so scared.

  
Josh’s hands were shaking as he scrawled messages back, establishing that he was okay, and then that they needed to decide what to do.

  
‘Ty, I can’t put you in danger.’  
‘Yeah, you either.’

  
Josh paused and licked his lips, tightening a fist into his hair briefly before continuing.

  
‘I guess we have to stay apart, this week at least. We can see what happens by next weekend.’

  
This was Josh’s suggestion, and he could feel Tyler reluctantly sigh on the other end of their connection.

  
‘I guess so. We can talk at night?’ Josh could feel Tyler clinging to this one hope, and he decided that it was fair enough.

  
‘Yeah. Of course. But you should get some rest, okay?’  
The next message came back quickly.  
‘I love you.’

  
Josh sighed, leaning his head forward against his bedsheets and closing his eyes tightly.

  
“I love you too, Ty.” He whispered. And feeling the connection close off for the time being, Josh knew that Tyler understood.

  
And while Josh knew that, this, all of this, was the right way to go, he already missed Tyler. He wanted the week to be over, and fast.

  
Josh felt _empty_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for lack of updates. I'm getting a bit back into it now. xo


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow. man so sorry about the hiatus i was on another continent for a long ass time and then a bunch of stuff made me get busy!! but i have the motivation to at least finish this fanfic so i hope me actually updating makes up for it.  
> cheers xo

Josh hadn’t spoken to Tyler in five days.

While the constant hum of silence in his head and on his arms was slowly driving him to the brink of insanity, Josh’s week and classes continued on as usual and it drove him fucking insane not being able to even write to Tyler in English class every day.

The best that he could do was stare at the back of his head and hopelessly wait.

At home, it wasn’t much better. His parents didn’t ask about why they hadn’t seen Tyler recently. Maybe they’d been informed, or maybe it was just Josh’s off mood that was giving them the hint not to question it. Either way, radio silence about Josh’s feelings among his family. And he was feeling more alone than ever.

He decided, after just two days, that the only thing for him to do was to throw himself back into his studies again- especially considering he didn’t know if Tyler and he were even going to talk after the week was up, or if it’d be longer. So when he started falling behind in Engineering, he decided to take extra classes to make up for it. The compound recognized that some students were not as adept as others at certain enforced topics, and so during the spare time of students and faculty they offered study sessions.

Josh really hated them, especially because the teachers who ran it also, very clearly hated that they had to be there- but he attended anyways, because if there was any class he did not want to redo, it’d be engineering.

In the end, after a few days of extra tutoring, Josh’s essays and hands-on activities in engineering were earning marks higher by at least 5 percent. His teacher gave him a knowing look as she passed, this time, and she seemed to be impressed. For the first time during his break week, he felt a sense of positive emotion swell in his chest- pride.

Of course, the loneliness didn’t leave him, and it was especially hard on the nights that he knew he should’ve been scrawling messages back and forth with Tyler. But it wasn’t long before Josh started to wish that he was alone.

 

After every class he took, in every hall he took, in every corner he looked, the same black-cloaked man’s eyes followed him. It was as if Josh was being followed by a spirit, and while Josh was well aware that ghosts were not real, it was still eerie how silently and flawlessly the man seemed to follow him around and know his every move. He wore a trench coat and black sunglasses to match. His head was shaven clean. He never wore any expression on his face, and though Josh couldn’t tell for certain, every time he saw the man, he averted his eyes- he could feel the figure’s intense gaze boring into him.

Every step he took began to turn into an anxious guess of where he’d next see the man. Was it a coincidence? Was the government coming for him? He’d separated himself from Tyler, what else was there, now? Josh didn’t know. But on the eighth day without communication with Tyler, Josh didn’t see him.

The curly-haired teen breathed a sigh of relief as the corner he turned out of study hall was empty of creepy nightmare figures. He pushed his hands into his pockets and took the long way home. It was Friday. The weekend called for at least a small effort towards personal relaxation, even if that just meant stretching his legs a bit before heading home for some homework and then sleep.

Josh thought about contacting Tyler. The week was up, wasn’t it? But he decided against it. He wasn’t going to put Tyler or himself in danger, especially after he’d been stalked all week. Besides, Tyler was more cautious than him, and Josh respected his judgement. He would wait for him to make the first move.

Surprisingly for Josh, this came to him quickly.

He looked down as he felt the familiar tingling sensation of ink appearing on his forearm, and frowned as he tried to discern the words- but they were starting to sting and come quicker, messy, frantic, and Josh realized that Tyler was pushing the pen too hard into his skin as he wrote. Panic bubbled up inside of him and he had to stop walking to read the message as discreetly as possible.

‘ _Some1 follow you RUN._ ’

Josh pressed his eyebrows together at the short form, strange for Tyler, but realized that he had been trying to get the message to him quickly. Josh yanked his shirt sleeve down and looked up, heart starting to pump adrenaline into his veins as he whipped around. He couldn’t see Tyler. How did he know? But sure as their soulbond, there he was. The man in black.

Josh froze. The only sound he could hear was the thundering in his ears and the static of the words traced into his wrist. He was panicking. He was forcing himself not to. He couldn’t now. This was real. Fuck. He could die.

The man stopped dead in his tracks and stared blankly at Josh through his sunglasses and emotionless face, as if examining him, and all Josh could do was stare back at him, chest heaving, until he heard a scream erupt from the stairwell nearest him. Head whipping up, he knew. He knew that it’d been Tyler, and Josh shrieked his name at full volume, his ears seeming to explode from how loud he’d gotten, shocking his own body. He threw himself into full movement.

Josh could hear the black clad man thundering after him. He could hear. He was counting his breaths to calm his anxiety, to calm himself enough to be able to keep running, for him to be able to reach Tyler in time, because he had to be able to reach him in time, or Josh would have nothing to live for, he’d have no Tyler and no friends and no nothing.

 

Josh counted.

_One, two, three._

He bolted towards the stairwell, hair whipping above his head as his shoes squeaked against the too-clean floor.

_Four, five, six._

His counts fell in time with the footsteps racing behind him, and he didn’t dare look back, he didn’t dare lose focus for fear of being caught, for fear of losing Tyler.

_Seven, eight, nine._

His heart began to palpitate. His lungs were on fire and he thought he could collapse just as his foot hit the first step up with intense force.

_Thump, thump, thump._

The footsteps caught him, he counted how many times his body crumpled against the next landing, how many cracks his legs made, how many clicks the sound of the machine gun made.

How many seconds the feral scream that tore from his throat would last. How many times the hissing of orders in his ears would repeat.

How many minutes it would take for him to black out.

How many times Tyler’s cries of pain resonated into his nightmares.


	11. Chapter 11

Josh woke up gasping with a fiery pain in the side of his head, and he whipped around as best he could, all the while groaning softly in pain. It was involuntary, but he felt like his entire body was smashed open on the floor like glass.

Fortunately, he was handcuffed to a hospital bed and not lying on the floor, because no doubt he would’ve been in more pain, without the slight comfort of the thin sanitary mattress pressed to his spine. He dragged himself to sit upright and squinted around the small room where he was being held, bright white lights blinding him as they reflected off the white walls and tiles. His hands started to quiver as the foggy memory of what’d happened entered his mind.

No doubt he had a serious concussion, because he almost couldn’t see, breathe, sit up, or think, without it hurting- but it concerned him more that he had barely an inkling of an idea why he was here. The last thing Josh remembered was a man wearing black following him, and he remembered screaming, though he didn’t know who’s. Josh didn’t know why he was here.

He did know, however, that he was in serious trouble.

And where was Tyler? Josh had no idea. He couldn’t even remember if he’d seen him. He just hoped desperately that he wasn’t hurt. If he was, maybe he’d be able to feel it through their connection- although right now, Josh might’ve been too panicky to feel anything else but his own feelings.

He forced himself to open his eyes wider and examine the room. He barely saw the outline of a white door against the right wall, though there was no handle or anything of the like, so he assumed that there was no escaping through there, even if he got out of the handcuffs.

He then saw the long, slightly greyer rectangle that spanned the wall directly in front of him. Upon some more intense squinting, it looked like a mirror. Josh could see his messy hair, which needed a trim, his wrists attached to the bed- his face split open and blackened in places.

But he doubted that it was a simple mirror. No government would put a mirror in a holding cell. He knew that they were watching him from the other side.

His head whipped up in sudden panic as the door started to swing open with a heavy, weighted sound. A man in purple stepped into the room, followed by another in grey, who stood at attention. Josh tensed. Was he going to die here? Was that it?

The purple man didn’t touch him. He stepped further into the room, behind his bed, and shoved it forward jerkily, taking the grey man’s help as he wheeled the bed through the door. Josh said nothing. He didn’t want to face what consequences could occur if he did. He glanced back warily into the room behind him before watching the white hallway disappear in front of him as he moved. They entered another room.

 

Josh was blinded again by the bright lights, and he just barely stopped himself from sighing heavily in frustration. He wondered how many people had been in his position before this. 10? 50? 100? He knew the government was strict, but it was always kept a secret when people were convicted. Maybe his father knew. But Josh knew that he would never know. It was only torturing himself to guess.

His eyes adjusted to the light and he jolted. His mother was there. She stood in front of him with a blank expression as the officers wheeled his bed in front of her feet and locked the wheels. She wore her medical scrubs. What the hell was going on? Was his mother involved in this? Did she know? Josh sat, lips parted in shock as he stared her in the face and said nothing.

His bed out of the doorway, Josh turned his head to his left as the door opened again and two different officers with matching uniforms entered the room with another bed. Josh choked down a scream in his throat. Tyler was there. He was there too. He was alive, at least. He didn’t look as bad as Josh had, in the two-way mirror, but the boy could still feel anger boiling in his blood that anyone had dared to hurt him at all.

Neither boy nor Josh’s mother said anything as the officers left. Josh’s eyes whipped frantically back and forth between the two others in the room, and he could sense Tyler doing the same, though they remained silent. Josh only gathered that there was no mirror in this room. They were alone.

Josh’s mother stepped towards him and stood beside his bed, quietly telling him to stay still as she spread a salve across his split lip and reached to glue it back together.

“Why’re you here?” Josh asked her, voice slightly slurred from his injuries and concussion. She didn’t answer.

She glanced towards Tyler and gave him the once over, apparently deciding that he didn’t need immediate medical attention like Josh did, and leaving him be. She worked silently, undoing Josh’s handcuffs and packing splints onto his limbs as was needed. Left leg. Two fingers. Snapped back into place. Tyler cried out for Josh when he couldn’t for himself anymore, and though Josh’s mother didn’t speak, Josh could hear her wincing under her breath every time she hurt her son.

Soon Josh was glued and taped back together the best he could be. His head was ringing and throbbing, but his mother pressed a cool cloth to his forehead and offered him a sad smile, which shouldn’t have been comforting considering the circumstances, but it was. Josh breathed in a breath of cool air. She moved over to Tyler to check him quickly and undid his handcuffs too. Neither boy moved. She took a breath and wrote onto Tyler’s wrist with a permanent marker.

“Listen to me. They’re going to open the door so I can take you both back, you’re going to pretend you’re still handcuffed, but when I say, you’re going to get out of your beds and to the left. Then you follow this path.”

Josh’s mouth went dry as he watched the writing appear on his own wrist, detailing the turns in hallways and doorways they had to take to get out. He looked up at his mother with wide eyes. She closed the marker and turned her head to face him.

“I made sure you got a room where they couldn’t see us, so if you’re careful this should work.”

Josh stared at her, not knowing what to say. How did she do this? Why was it her? Where would they go?

“W-what about you?” Josh stuttered out, voice dry and unused. She watched him blankly.

“I wrote down a unit number on your arms. Go there, they’ll keep you safe, okay? They know what’s happening, they know what this is like. It’s the middle of the night, so nobody else should be awake. One of them works here, so he can get out of his unit at night. Trust them.”

Josh could feel his eyes fogging as he warily registered that she’d not answered his question.

“Mom,” He prompted weakly, reaching for her as she pushed his bed towards the door without answering. She kissed the top of his head lightly but didn’t give any further response, giving Tyler (the more stable one) a hard look to see if he was ready for this.

The truth was that neither of them were. But if they didn’t want to die, this was their best chance.

 

Josh’s mother pushed them into the hall, accepting the help from a junior grey officer to help her push Tyler’s bed beside Josh’s. Josh feigned being handcuffed, breaths coming shallow and fast now as he readied himself for the jump. He didn’t know if he could even keep himself on his feet. He hoped to God that he could. Or at least that Tyler could.

They approached a fork in the hallway. He glanced over at Tyler and they locked eyes for barely a millisecond, before Josh heard his mother’s voice breathe into his ear and they were both on their feet.

Josh’s chest, injured leg, body, head, everything were on fire. Worse than when he’d woken up. He could hear himself breathing too heavily, he could feel Tyler’s hands trying to support him and drag him along down the hallway, but it was all going too fast and Josh’s clouded mind could barely register what was going on. He could hear yelling behind him. He could hear the clicking of guns. He barely registered someone falling over the hospital beds. And there was his mother.

No matter how far Tyler could get Josh down the twisting hallways, Josh would look back and scream, the sound of it barely covered by Tyler’s palm fast enough. The gunshot he’d heard ricochet off the wall hadn’t been a loose shot. There were other noises with it. The sound of death. The smell of it. And Josh knew who it’d been.

He thought he might faint. He thought he would crumple to the ground. But Tyler, apparently running on adrenaline, took most of his body weight and heaved him out into the cool air of the compound, separated from the government hallways.

“Thank God.” Tyler breathed, not knowing what else to say, voice quivering in fear and pain as he glanced down at his arm and pulled Josh up onto his back before continuing to walk. Josh laid limply against him and let his eyes glaze over. He knew his mom was dead. He probably knew that she would be before they’d even left that room.

“Don’t thank him. He didn’t do shit.”


End file.
